The Teutons do not have obvious offensive bonuses, but they are a strong civilization due to some great defensive and production bonuses. Sandy Peterson of Ensemble Studios says, "The Teutons are probably the hardest nation to pull off a successful early attack against.... Their huge defensive advantage consists in four areas: extra farm food, fortified town centers, death-dealing-towers, and long-range healers." On the offensive, Peterson says, "The Teutonic army is a slow but powerful force. It may take a while to arrive, but when it does, it packs a lot of oomph."

Here are the Teutons' cultural bonuses.

Fortified Town Center: The town center of the Teutons does +2 attack damage and has a range of +5. That means when garrisoned, it does two more damage and has five more range than the town centers of any other civilization. This bonus makes the Teutons the most protected against Dark Age rushes. This benefit is best in the Dark and Feudal Ages.

The Teutonic Knights

The unique unit for the Teutons is the Teutonic Knight, the most powerful infantry unit in the game. It has the most hit points and armor, and has a strong attack. Unfortunately, it is also the slowest and among the most expensive of any units.

Sandy Peterson says, "The mightiest melee unit in the game, dollar for dollar. [Its] only rival is the dreaded War Elephant. While one-on-one an elephant does manage to defeat the knights, the pachyderms cost a fortune and take forever to train. These guys kick serious behind."

An animating knight.

Designer Greg Street says, "The Teutonic Knight is analogous to AOE's Phalanx, in that it is a slow unit that hits hard. Teutons have more armor and hit points than virtually any other unit, but make up for it with a slow speed and high cost. In fact, when dealing with unit balancing, we consider the Teutonic Knight to be worth twice the number of opposing units, since they have nearly twice as many hp, but are twice as expensive. Players who enjoy rushing through an enemy town shooting villagers will probably favor civilizations such as the Mongols and Saracens over the Teutons. However, because of the infantry bonus vs. buildings, it is very hard to stop a line of Teutonic knights before they level your Castle and half your city. The knights have so many hit points, have enough armor to shrug off most attacks, and (like all Teuton units) are highly resistant to conversion, that there is not a good counter measure to a Teutonic invasion. When an enemy sees an army of your knights escorting rams and trebuchets come slowly but inexorably over the hilltop, he has plenty of time to panic... which is always nice."

While the Teutonic Knight is a terror against enemy infantry, siege machines, and buildings, it does have weaknesses, including ranged units and some cavalry. Peterson says, "The Teutonic Knight is so slow-moving that he is best-used attacking something that the enemy has to defend. Otherwise, the foe will just run away. And the Knight needs to have cavalry, skirmishers, hand-cannoneers or long-range siege accompanying his attack to protect against enemy archers."

Greg Street adds, "The Teutonic Knight... is not well equipped to deal with an incoming army, particularly one dominated by cavalry. On the other hand, a force of Teutonic knights backed up with long-ranged Monks can level enemy buildings at a frightening rate."

Peterson says, "When most nations are attacked early in the game, they respond by running their villagers into the town center while their soldiers beat off the foe. Even if the attackers are repelled, you have at least suffered a production loss while your villagers were garrisoned. But the Teuton's town center's range far exceeds any other unit in the game. He can actually defend much of his town without any military at all, and does not need to garrison nearly as much of his work force during an attack, enabling him to maintain production even through a battle."

Thanks to its farm bonus, the Teuton player has an advantage in wood resources.

Cheap Farms: Teuton farms only cost two-thirds wood. The savings means that a Teuton player can build more farms more quickly, giving him a jump on food production, which leads to faster age advancement and troop production. The wood saved on farms also lets the Teutons build more ships.

Stronger Towers: All the Teuton towers have increased attack power. This extra attack power takes the form of additional arrows. Usually, when you garrison a tower, it will launch a number of arrows, depending on how many archers are inside. The Teuton towers get extra arrows beyond that normal number. In the Feudal Age, they get +3 arrows; in the Castle Age, they get +2 arrows; and in the Imperial Age, they get +1 arrow.

Long-range Healers: Normally, the healing range for a monk is short. However, the Teuton monk can heal from a range of eight tiles away. Teuton knights are already hit point juggernauts, but with the addition of healing, they are even more durable. The long-range healing means that healing is actually viable in combat for the Teutons (depending on how streamlined the casting interface is, of course). Peterson says, "His [the Teuton player's] monks can heal his army from so far away that he can actually heal units in the middle of a fight!" The healing also helps for or against town sieges... their long-range healing priests mean that even while the Teutons are launching sallies against enemy siegework, they can be healing up."

Teuton strengths

Ensemble Studios provided a lot of commentary on the strengths and weaknesses of the Teuton civilization. The Teutons have great defense, with their strong town center and towers. They are thus able to defend against rushes and weather sieges.

Peterson says, "The Teutons' wonderful towers and town centers mean that a Teuton can build military bases that are almost unassailable. If [a Teuton player is] attacked by mortal enemies such as[English] longbows or [Mongolian] horse archers, he can place his army under the protection of his forward-placed town centers, whose colossal range gives him an ICBM-like umbrella. He is just about the only civ in the game that can do a Town Center rush! This consists of stockpiling wood, then moving forward into the enemy area under the cover of new-made Town Centers, each garrisoned by a few villagers. A Teuton Town Center can often reach across an entire forest to strike out at enemy lumberjacks or houses. Also, while in AoK most civs can no longer produce an effective Tower Rush, the Teutons still have this tactic available, due to their highly-damaging towers.

Despite appearances, Teutons aren't very vulnerable in the early ages, thanks to their strong town centers.

In addition, their farm bonus allows them to build farms faster, jumping up through to the second age quickly and saving wood for other buildings. More farms means more warriors as well. The long range healing of the Teuton monks also gives the Teutons a great advantage in wars of attrition, as their units can withstand longer poundings than other civilizations can. Their cavalry, while not the best in the game, does get access to all upgrades, and they have the full line of infantry and infantry upgrades. They also have a good assortment of siege weapons, gunpowder troops, and ships.

Weaknesses

The Teutons are slow to act offensively. They do not get the final cavalry units and are not strong in ranged units. Says Peterson, "The Teutons emphasize power, not speed or finesse. Their archers are certainly nothing to write home about, and they don't have any good fast units, lacking the higher-end horse archers and light cavalry. Inferior archers and a shortage of raiders mean that the Teuton player has to be careful. An error in judgment can cost him his whole army. Also, the generally slow nature of their army means that enemy ranged units can cause serious harassment, and quick-moving foes can sometimes run around the Teutons to get into their rear."

A Teuton player needs all the gold he can get.

The Teutonic Knight is also very expensive, and the Teuton player in general is very reliant on gold. "The Teuton's forces are very gold-intensive. He likes his cavalry, his Teutonic Knights, and his siege equipment. He also typically backs up his men with monks. If you can cut off a Teuton from his gold supply and weather his attacks, he'll eventually run out of steam," comments Peterson.

Lastly, while the Teutons have excellent defensive structures and powerful ground troops, they are lacking in mobile defenses. Peterson says, "The Teutons have a shortage in defensive units. They don't get camels or light cavalry. This means that the Teutonic bonuses are really best-suited for static defense. If an enemy raiding force manages to breach the Teuton perimeter, it's very hard for the Teuton to hunt them down. In essence, the Teutons are a very hard nut to crack, but once you manage to get through the shell ... "